Catch Me If I'm Falling
by wannabe-here
Summary: After seeing something that could potentially ruin Shawn's life, it's up to Cory to break the bad news to his best friend. (Or: AU to episode 3.20 "I Never Sang For My Legal Guardian" set after Cory and Topanga go to the diner to find Shawn's father.)
1. Chapter 1

Takes place on/after Season 3 Episode 20 "I Never Sang For My Legal Guardian" but establishes an alternate universe.

Title and lyric from the song "Round Here" by Counting Crows. If you know the significance of that band in the BMW universe then major props! (Hint: It's mentioned somewhere earlier in this season. Don't be _**Slackers**_ go try to find out which!)

Cross-posted on AO3 under WriterRose

* * *

 _the crumbling difference between wrong and right._

It's been troubling. Every second it eats away at him. The fact that something like this could happen to someone, to someone like him, _frequently_ , is just baffling.

What did Cory Matthews ever do to deserve this? Well, rather what did Cory Matthews' best friend ever do to deserve this?

Cory wouldn't believe it if Topanga wasn't there with him when he witnessed it. The cruel, twist of fate that would surely shatter the fragile being that was standing in place of his usually confident and cheery best friend.

Yes, Cory Matthews had seen things. Things that could ruin lives. Particularly Shawn Hunter's life. But even if he could somehow manage to tell his friend the truth, and Cory was sure that he _couldn't_ , he had no idea where his best friend was.

After the…incident, Cory had come home to his parents questioning him not on his own past whereabouts, but Shawn's current. And Mr. Turner was there, which was quickly becoming a frequent occurrence. Apparently Shawn had been missing for a number of hours now, since the night before, and no one could find him. Cory stuttered out that Shawn told him he planned to stay at his Uncle Mike's and then Mr. Turner quickly took off after learning where that was and expressing his thanks.

His mom gave a deep sigh before giving Cory a disapproving look at returning home so late - _well, early_ \- but it was not nearly her most scornful of looks. Cory informed her that he was out with Topanga before she could question him. His mother still wasn't happy, but she seemed almost...relieved. As if she was worrying that Cory was out God-knows-where with Shawn.

It was a Friday night/Saturday morning so when Cory showed no signs of wanting to go to bed while his friend is potentially missing and hurting emotionally, his mother didn't voice any disagreements. She shared a quick look with his father and after a curt nod from the man she only warned about keeping quiet. No TV unless it's on extremely low, was her only demand on account that both his siblings were trying to sleep. As she headed up the steps in the kitchen, Cory and his dad went into the living room and took seats on opposite ends of the couch after his father turned on one of the lamps. Cory stayed silent and didn't make any attempts to turn the television on, too distracted by the swarm that was currently his thoughts. And if he were paying attention, he would've been able to tell that his father was working out the correct things to say in his own head as well.

Alan Matthews was a good father. He thought carefully about what he'd say to his children before he voiced it and he didn't yell at them harshly without first knowing all sides to a story. He'd make his disapproval known, but never yell. Never lied. Never left. Alan Matthews was a good father.

"Why exactly were you and Topanga out so late tonight?" the older man finally asked in a hushed tone, breaking the heavy silence.

"Our bus was late." the teen answered vaguely, in a voice that sounded barely above a whisper.

"Where did you two go where you'd need a bus to get there?" Alan asked skeptically. His tone wasn't necessarily admonishing but Cory could tell that his dad was upset he didn't ask for permission to go somewhere that wasn't in town or walking distance.

Not taking his eyes off of the pillow that was currently taking residence on his lap, Cory decided to answer his father. "We went to find Shawn's dad."

This seemed to have surprised Alan a bit as in the dim light he raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Cory nodded mutely.

"Cor, what's the matter? Where did you two go?" Alan asked in a genuinely concerned tone brought on by his son's strange quietness.

Instead of answering the question however, Cory decided to bring up what had been bothering him. "Dad," he started, looking up at his father. Cory must've looked as torn up on the outside as he felt on the inside, as his father's disapproving concern quickly turned into simply concern. "I...we saw something. Something we weren't supposed to see." he muttered out.

An angered look quickly crossed Alan's face after giving the comment a second's thought. "Now I don't know what kind of places Shawn's father hangs around but if you two went anywhere inappropriate―"

"No, no! We were at a dingy dinner off the highway." Cory informed in a rushed and hushed tone, which calmed Alan down as he gave Cory the go-ahead to continue. "We did find Shawn's dad. But…"

"But what?" the older man inquired after Cory trailed off.

"He was with a woman. In a booth. Looking very _cozy._ " he revealed.

Alan took a moment to process this before finally asking, "Who was she?"

"I don't know." Cory admitted.

"Well, was it Shawn's mother?"

"I don't know." he repeated. "I've never seen Shawn's mom before but she didn't look like Shawn..."

Alan ran a hand down his face as he heaved a sigh before looking at his son once more. "So you think his father is seeing another woman?" Alan finally asked.

Hearing the suggestion finally voiced was pretty harrowing, Cory thought. He and Topanga had shared knowing looks, having had the same thought but neither of them had actually suggested it out loud.

"I don't know." Cory answered once more after a pause. "Like I said, I've never seen his mom before so it could've been her but…"

After his son trailed off into silence once more, Alan insisted "But what?" sitting up more in his seat.

"They got into the same car and took off. In the opposite direction of Philly."

Alan heaved a great sigh this time and slouched in his chair, once again rubbing his hand over his face. "Did you two tell Shawn any of this?" Alan asked.

"No." Cory answered. "His dad got caught in a speed trap so Shawn found out where he was. He tried sneaking over there but he was caught by Mr. Turner. And the cops. The last I heard from him he said he was going to stay at his Uncle Mike's if Turner kept giving him ' _trouble'_."

"I need to tell Jon." Alan stated after a moment's pause, as if to himself.

Cory shot his head up. "What? No. I should be the one to tell Shawn. He won't believe it otherwise." he argued. "Well, he won't believe it at first, but coming from me he'll eventually trust it. More than from anybody else." Cory shook his head in disbelief, looking away. "Whether it was his mom or not, both of Shawn's parents took off. They left him..." Cory was a little ashamed that his words came off a bit choked at the end.

"I get it, Cory." Alan quickly calmed, placing a comforting hand on his son's shoulder. "You can be the one to tell Shawn, but something needs to be done about Chet." he pressed on. Cory was taken aback for a moment due to the loathing expression on his father's face as he finished his sentence.

"Okay…" Cory conceded as he rubbed his traitorous eyes that were getting sleepy before voicing a thought that was bothering him greatly, "I don't get how someone could do that. Just leave their kid like that."

"Some people just weren't meant to be parents." Alan informed, his tone still containing soft malice and disgust. He looked back to his youngest son and after seeing the sleepy yet distraught look upon Cory's face, his expression softened but the anger in his eyes didn't disappear. "Get some sleep, Cor. You're going to need to be well rested. Shawn'll need you to be too."

Cory yawned. "Alright…" he agreed hesitantly, standing up and giving a small stretch.

"Make sure you don't wake up your brother when you get into your room." he cautioned.

"I will." Cory promised, making his way to the stairs noncommittally. He turned to Alan. "I can go see Shawn tomorrow, right?" the teen asked after he didn't quite make it all the way to the stairs.

"Tell you what," the adult started. "I'll drop you off at Turner's after I drop your brother off tomorrow. He needs meet with Feeny at the library. Something about his tutoring gig...Deal?"

"Deal." the teen agreed once more, returning on his journey to the stairs. Alan made his was back to the kitchen to tie up some loose ends but before he completed his exit of the living room, his youngest son called out to him.

"Dad?" Cory requested quietly from his position halfway up the stairs.

"Yes?" Alan asked back in an equally hushed tone.

"You were meant to be a parent." the teen said. "You're a good dad."

Alan gave a small smile. "Thanks, son."


	2. Chapter 2

A few hours later, after some restless sleep, Cory woke up at 8 o'clock on a Saturday morning, which would be unheard of if he didn't have to go shatter some hearts. Well, a heart. And maybe another a skull if his brother wouldn't bother _getting up._

"Cory, what's the deal?" Eric whined, finally fully sitting up in bed, hair askew and eyes half opened. "It's a Saturday...when did you even get home?" the 18 year-old asked once he realized he never saw his brother enter their room last night. A rare sight, as Cory wasn't usually such a night owl.

"A few hours ago. C'mon, Eric. I need to go. I slept too late already." Cory pressed, forcibly grabbing his brother's arm, which had gone up to rub some of the sleep from his eyes, and yanked him off his bed with all his might.

The older boy gave a comedic yell before falling to the floor at Cory's feet, blankets and all. He sat up in a fit, thoroughly confused and annoyed. "Cory, seriously! What gives?" he asked looking up at his younger brother.

"Eric," Cory started in a somber voice, which seemed to surprise his brother. Huh, Cory thought. He should really try being more serious with his family more often. It gets results. "I need to go somewhere. It's important." he continued.

Eric gave his brother a skeptic look before he started to stand up and shoved his covers back onto his bed. "Does this have anything to do with you coming home so late?"

"Yes." Cory simply answered, going through his older brother's drawers and pulling out some jeans and a shirt for him to wear. It was at this moment that Eric realized that Cory was already dressed for the day. "Dad's taking me somewhere after he drops you off. Now hurry up." he ordered, throwing the articles of clothing at the blonde.

"Alright, alright." Eric finally agreed, quickly removing his sleep shirt and replacing it with the fresh long sleeve Cory gave him and then sliding the jeans on over his boxers. "It better be important…" he started to grumble as he buttoned up his jeans and zipped up the fly.

Before Cory could respond, their father knocked twice then entered the room and observed his sons. "You boys almost ready?" he asked, in a slightly lowered tone, so as to not wake up the females in the house currently trying to sleep.

Cory nodded, grabbing a hoodie and heading out the door past his father and down the stairs into the kitchen.

"What's got his undies in a twist?" Eric asked his father once the younger boy was gone.

"He and I have some business at Turner's." he plainly stated.

"Is Hunter okay?" he asked, grabbing his backpack from his desk chair and jacket and heading towards the bedroom door.

"I don't know." Alan answered truthfully.

* * *

Jon had poured himself so many cups of coffee this morning that he's lost track of how many he's actually had. He fought a yawn as he a took a sip and tried to fight his tiredness away.

Jon was fighting a lot of things internally right now. His tiredness, his anger, his guilt. His curiosity…

He was trying his damndest not to listen to the conversation that was taking place a few doors down. By the time he was done running around all over the city trying to find Shawn, it was welled past respectable night hours. Jon didn't like spending his early morning in police stations…

He gave Shawn a talking to at the police station but once it became clear he didn't do anything wrong, Jon laid off. Well, he got in trouble for sleeping on a park bench, not anything really illegal. Besides the whole running away thing. Turns out he didn't know that his uncle took off with his trailer either. Imagine the mini-heartattack Jon felt when he first discovered that when he was looking for him`. But imagine Shawn's heartbreak to realize another family member had skipped town…

Jonathan shook the thoughts out of his head. He and Shawn had worked out some feelings the night - err... - morning before. After both sides thoroughly apologise to each other for the actions of the day before, they each made their own promises. Shawn promised no more running away without trying to talk things out first and Jonathan promised no more talks of moving, at least not right now. They had some things they still needed to work out and a big change was the last thing that any of them needed.

Jon was thinking about what will come next when there suddenly came a knock on his door. It must've been the Matthews. Alan did leave a message on his machine yesterday and mentioned he and Cory would be stopping over sometime around 8:30. Jon checked his old analog clock hanging in the kitchen area. 8:25. Good timing. Why couldn't Matthews ever be this punctual for his class?

Without wasting anymore time, Jon answered the door to his apartment to reveal a grim looking Alan and an anxious looking Cory.

"Alan." he greeted.

"Jon." the family man greeted back.

"Shawn's home right?" Cory asked a bit frantically, making his way into the apartment the second Jon gave them a gesture to come in.

"He's in his room with―" Jon started, but before he could finish Cory had already taken off at a brisk pace towards the room of his best friend. Jon stared after him, a bit shocked, before turning to the boy's father. "That's the second worried kid I've had around here this morning. Something I should know about?"

"I figured as much…" Alan sighed. "I'm afraid I don't come with good news, Jon." he cut to the chase.

"I kinda got that feeling from your message last night. What's wrong?" Jon questioned further, leading Alan to the couch and taking a seat in one of the chairs close by.

"In his stead, Cory and Topanga went looking for Shawn's father yesterday. They found Chet, but they never talked to him."

"What happened?"

"Chet was with a woman. Cory's not sure if it was Shawn's mother or not, but the two of them took off together in the opposite direction of town."

Jon was frozen in shock and pure rage. He took a breath and calmed himself. "He had no intention of coming back…" he growled out lowly.

"No. At least none that the kids could see." Alan confirmed. He breathed out his own sigh before scooting forward on the couch, lowering his voice. "Listen, Jon. I advise extreme caution from this point on. Shawn's already in a bad place emotionally. I don't know how much more the kid can take. Chet's caused that kid too much trouble already. If he really cared in the first place, he would've never filed for the guardianship papers or have taken off, almost over a year ago now." Jon nodded along in agreement. "Now, Amy and I did some talking, and if you don't feel like you can handle Shawn, she and I are willing to take him in. Permanently. Despite all the trouble that followed the first time. Chet just can keep abandoning his son and think it's okay. It's high time that something gets done about it."

"Yeah." Jon agreed, nodding his head slowly. "Yeah, it is."

* * *

Cory had gone over the possible course of the conversation about twenty times in his head and out of those twenty times, none of them ended without a crushed Shawn. In some endings he was defeated, filled with anguish. In some he was angry, aggressive, unwilling to believe. Cory didn't know which was the lesser of the two evils. It was clear that none of these scenarios ended good for his friend. But any situations his friend got into ever really?

His dad loses his job during Christmas time. A blows up a mailbox with a cherry bomb. His mom runs off, then his dad does too, claiming to go in search of his wife yet he's seen being leisurely with a woman after being arrested. He doesn't call. He sends adoption papers...Sure, Cory's grown to like the idea. Shawn being in a stable home and having a reliable adult to look after him, a proper father figure. But Cory's initial reactions were the same as Shawn's; confusion, anger, rejection. Cory wasn't sure if that last one was a reaction, but boy did he feel it. He's really gotta stop having so much empathy...

It was at this point Cory realized he was stalling. He had to accept the facts. What happened had happened and there was nothing he could do to make it unhappen. Without another thought, he took a deep breath, turned the doorknob, and opened his mouth to speak his truth but before he could, the words were trapped in his throat from the sight that greeted him.

It was pretty dim in the room, thanks to the overcast and drawn window shades, but Cory could see clear enough to notice a few things. The first was the figure of Shawn laying in his bed in a position that looked anything but comfortable, but Cory knew it to be the way his friend slept when restless. His face also was a little red and looked...damp. Damn.

The second major thing he noticed was the revelation that his friend's room was slightly cleaner than usual. There were still clothes overflowing dressers and a few discarded objects lying about here or there, but the floor was mostly clear and all the trash was gone.

And finally the third and mildly disconcerting thing that Cory noticed was his girlfriend, giving him a disapproving look with a filled trash bag at her feet.

"Topanga?" he questioned in mild shock.

"Shh." she replied.

"What're you doing here?" he whispered back instead of adhering to her request.

Apparently his tone was still too loud as the blonde female repeated "Shhhh." more forcefully, holding her finger up to her lip.

"No seriously what're you―OW." Cory hissed out after being smack hard across the arm with a rolled up sports magazine.

Just as Cory was about to speak once more and ask his angry girlfriend what was wrong, a sleep-slurred voice sounded from the bed."It's alright, Topanga. M'm awake…"

"Look what you did." Topanga finally spoke aloud with pure malice, hitting Cory repeatedly with the magazine as Shawn rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed.

"Look what I did?" Cory asked in flabbergasted surprise. "What are you doing?" he cried as he weakly tried to defend himself from his girlfriend's attack.

"I took a load off your shoulders, that's what I did." the blonde stated matter-of-factly, ending her onslaught and placing her hands on her hips in a challenging manner.

This gave Cory pause. "You mean…" he started, but trailed off. Not wanting to finish the sentence in case what he thought was happening, wasn't really happening.

"I know, Cor." Shawn finally confirmed from his slouched position, body mostly hidden by comforter. He gave the lone female a forlorn look and then stated "Topanga told me everything."

The overwhelming relief at getting the truth off his chest wasn't as sweet as Cory imagined it'd be. For starters, he wasn't the one to tell his friend the truth, which he wasn't too upset about. It was a secondhand-relief, but the horrible, guilty, empathetic feeling was still rooted there in his chest. Cory took a seat next to his best friend and asked "How 'ya feeling, buddy?"

Shawn was silent for a moment before shrugging. "Okay, I guess." he admitted at last. "I didn't wanna believe it at first, but I knew Topanga wouldn't lie to me about something like this." After he finished, he looked up to the blonde girl and gave one of the weakest smiles any of the teens had even seen. Topanga took a seat on the opposite side of Shawn and looped her arm around Shawn's in a comforting manner. He seemed to appreciate the gesture as he leaned slightly more into her touch.

"He needed to know as soon as possible, Cory." Topanga informed. "And I know it was killing you knowing you had to tell him. Almost as much as it would him to know." she finished with a nudge to Shawn's shoulder which in turn nudged Cory when Shawn allowed for the motion to follow through. They were like one of those strange desk decorations.

Ya, know? The little marbles that clanked on a string, back and forth. Cory shook his head of his strange thoughts and spoke aloud. "No, I get it." he reassured sharing a deeply appreciative look with his girlfriend before looking to his best friend once more. "We wanted to make sure we were pretty certain of what we saw before we came to you." he spoke to the other male.

"But even if it wasn't anything, we still thought we should tell you." Topanga finished for him.

"I know. You guys wouldn't blow off something like this. I get it. Really." Shawn promised. "Even if what happened…at the end, didn't happen, I'd still want to know."

There was silence for a few more minutes until Cory spoke up once more. "Do you think it was her?" he asked quietly.

Shawn gave a sigh, unlooping his arm with Topanga's and dropping down onto the bed once more, staring up at his ceiling. "I don't think it really matters." he confessed, voice sounding hollow. Soon after, Topanga joined him lying down and once more looped their arms together, giving a stronger reassuring squeeze. She wished to provide comfort in one of the only ways she knew worked for Shawn. Cory had taught her that trick. Words were never good enough for his friend. Actions spoke louder than words, after all.

"They left." Shawn breathed out. At this point, Cory had joined the two and managed to find Shawn's upper arm underneath the blankets and gave his own comforting squeeze. "The people who mattered stayed." he finished, returning the gesture to each of his best friends.

The three teens layed there in shared silence once more staring up at the ceiling, offering comfort and in turn gratitude, all without words. They all shared a promise. It was a promise they had made to each other at different times during their lives, but held much of the same meaning and value to each of them. They'd always be there for each other, no matter what they had to face once they exited the comfort of their own shared world.

They layed like this for a long time, each trying to come to terms with the reality of the situation and what it would mean for their future, until Shawn broke the silence. "Hey, guys," he started. "Why is my floor so clean?"


	3. Chapter 3

By the time the three teens had emerged from the room it was well past 9:30. Before he had the chance to even talk to Shawn, Cory and Topanga had all but dragged Alan out the door, saying they were all going to get ready for a late breakfast outing once those at the Turner residence were dressed and ready to go.

Hearing the door slam, Jon emerged from his small study space to see his apartment empty except for the lone, hunched figure sitting on his couch. The figure turned halfway to meet his gaze.

"Hi." Shawn greeted.

"Hi…" Jon greeted back, more than a little confused at first, unsure as to where his guests had gone. Maybe they wanted to give them some privacy? Just then, Jonathan's theory was confirmed when Shawn spoke up once more, louder than before.

"Can we talk? I kinda have some stuff I wanna say." he requested vaguely, a strained look upon his face, as if saying the words left a sour taste in his mouth.

Temporarily, Jon was caught off guard, because Shawn had never before made such a request. Whenever he wanted to talk it was about trying to haggle for a late note or staying out late on a school night or extended time for classwork, and on the very rare occasion, help with homework. Never had Shawn ever said those words without an overzealous or sheepish grin on his face.

Realizing he's taken too much time already and not wanting Shawn to take his words back, "Yeah. Yeah, sure." Jon readily agreed as he hastily made his way to the couch and took a seat next to the teenager. "What's up?" he asked, turning so that he and Shawn were face to face, nonverbally communicating that he was completely open to this new development in their somewhat strained relationship.

After giving Jon a strange look at his behavior, Shawn said "I'm just gonna guess that you know what happened." sounding faintly aloof.

Jon treaded with extreme caution, afraid to say the wrong thing or scare Shawn off. "What Matthews and Lawrence were talking to you about?"

Shawn nodded, but at Jon's look he spoke aloud. "Yeah. About my dad."

Still afraid of revealing any information that Shawn didn't know, Jon asked for Shawn to elaborate further. "What about him? So I know we're on the same page."

Shawn seemed as if he were trying not to roll his eyes, or as if he wanted to but simply couldn't find the will to make his organs do such a thing at the moment. "That he abandoned me to run around with some lady that may or may not be my mom?" he deadpanned.

After a slight pause, Jon nodded. At first a little taken aback by hearing the words said so bluntly. "Shawn–" he started.

"No." the teen interrupted. At Jon's mildly surprised expression, Shawn apologized halfheartedly. "I'm sorry, but I gotta say what I gotta say. When I'm done you can say whatever you need to. You can yell, scream, I don't care. Just let me say what I have to say." Shawn finished with a steely gaze to the man.

Jon nodded once again. "Okay." he voiced. He swept his hands out in a welcoming gesture and spoke "You have the floor."

Shawn gave him an appreciative and somewhat judgy look before taking a few moments to work over what he wanted to say. Finally, he gave a deep breath and then begun. "I...always sorta knew that my folks were never the best. We'd move around a lot cause my dad had trouble keeping a job. My mom never liked living in the trailer park so once my dad got a stable job in Philly, she was really happy because we were able to buy our first real house. For a while, things were good. I mean, they'd still argue a lot but at the end of the day we had food on the table and a nice house to sleep in. Then my dad started...getting sloppy. And that's when the fights started getting bad. They'd always run off for a couple of hours to cool off on their own afterwards."

"They left you alone?" Jonathan asked cautiously, unsure if he was allowed to interrupt but also not able to stop himself from voicing his concern.

"Well, yeah. But it was okay. I'd just go to Cory's or something." the teen admitted in such a matter-of-fact way that it actually alarmed Jonathan. His parents would leave him alone for hours? They'd move from town to town? Jon should probably ask George to see Shawn's transcript... He was an idiot for not trying to look at it already.

"In sixth grade, my dad finally lost his first stable job. My parents were planning on leaving town again and trying to start over somewhere new but...I wanted to stay. I made friends here and I didn't care where we were living. I just wanted to stay somewhere for once. I don't really know why, but they agreed to stay but my dad couldn't find a job and the fights got worse and worse and then before I knew it, mom wasn't coming home anymore for days or weeks at a time and then dad would get angrier and…"

Shawn took a shaky breath, calming himself down and seemingly changing his train of thought. "They were never great parents. They could never stick around. Not at their jobs, not in town, and not with their family. I've been moving around all my life, Jon. That's why I want the next move I make to be more permanent. I want to be in a place where people stay." he confessed, finally referring to Jon in his long spiel. "I realize that the next move probably won't be with my parents, but I don't want that. I can't want that anymore.

"I know you haven't finished the adoption papers. Man, I should've knew the second he gave you the papers that he wasn't…" he stopped the new thought almost as soon as it started, then breathed out heavily through his nose. "If you don't want to adopt me, then fine. I'll get out of your hair. But I–"

"Alright, Hunter." Jon finally interrupted. "Why don't you read this while you come up for air?" he suggested, handing Shawn the stack of papers he walked into the room with.

Shawn gave Jon a curious look as he took the stack and inspected it. He read the first few lines, as the document was a little too text-heavy for him, and raised an eyebrow after realizing what they meant. "The adoption papers?" he questioned.

"Yep. And just this once, I'm gonna give you permission to skip ahead in the reading." he joked lightly with a nod to the papers, giving Shawn permission to flip through.

As he perused the documents, he noticed something very similar and familiar found throughout the document. "You...you signed them?" Shawn stated, but his soft, unsure tone made it sound more like a question.

"Uh-huh. Everything that needed a signature from me now has one." Jon confirmed. "I just need to get them approved by a few people before anything's official.

"Who needs to approve it?" Shawn asked, trying to sound less hopeful than he really felt. Hope was for suckers, after all.

"Well for starters, you." At Shawn's confused gaze, Jon continued. "I'll be your guardian, Shawn. This doesn't have to just be a place for you to crash at night. This can be your home. Wherever we go, it'll be your home. You'll be, officially, my responsibility. And I try my hardest to follow through with everything I do."

Shawn was silent for a few moments to process everything that Jon said and running over the words a few times in his head, just to make sure he wasn't making a mistake. That this was really happening. Finally, after giving a shaky breath, Shawn started nodding his head up and down hastily.

"Is that a yes?" Jon asked.

"Yeah. Yeah it's a yes." Shawn confirmed verbally, lifting his head to be eye level with Jon once again. The teen was a little embarrassed to realize that his eyes were getting very damp, very fast, but for once he didn't really care all that much.

Jon was more than happy to hear the acceptance but could help but notice the anxious way that Shawn was currently fidgeting. It wasn't necessarily a bad anxious but it was enough for Jon to voice his concerns. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." Shawn assured, voice trembling slightly with emotion. Though which emotion, Jon wasn't sure. "I guess I'm just a little...relieved."

"Relieved?" he parroted.

When Shawn replied, his tone suggested humor but his body language and words expressed something else entirely as he admitted "Well, I didn't really have a plan if you said… Well, if you said no."

"What, you think I was gonna dump you on the street?" he joked with a smile. He expected a response, but instead received none. Jon looked to the boy only to feel the overwhelming desire to kick himself in the pants. Shawn's gaze was focused on his lap and he was pulling at his shirt sleeve in a clearly troubled manner. "Hey, hey listen." Jon commanded, gently grabbing Shawn by the shoulders and forcing the teen's gaze to meet his own. "You're not gonna get left on the street. Ever. I promise that no matter how often we get at each other's throats, how often we annoy one another, how difficult things might get, I will never, _never_ leave you on your own. I signed these papers because I'm taking responsibility of you. Not as charity or because I have to, but because I want to. And not just for a little while until I get sick of you." he finished.

"Then for how long?" Shawn asked quietly.

"For as long as you need me." Jon replied. "And probably even after that for my own selfish purposes because believe it or not, kid, I actually like having you around." he finished lightheartedly. However, his happy tone seemed to work against him because something shocking and unfamiliar to Jon happened once again; Shawn moved forward in a rush and hugged him.

Jon was frozen for a few moments, at first unsure what to do, but when Shawn didn't immediately pull away in embarrassment, Jon gave himself permission to wrap his arms around the teen's smaller, shaky frame. Jon was also surprised to recognize that Shawn's slight tremors were actually muffled sobs and that there was currently a wet patch forming on his shirt.

"Hey," he quickly spoke, sounding a bit awkward. He was a little out of his depth here. "it's okay. Don't be sad." he soothed as he unconsciously tightened their embrace.

"I-I...I'm not sad." came Shawn's muffled voice. He pulled his flushed face away from Jon's chest for better ability to speak. "I mean, I'm still upset about _the stuff_ from before but...I'm happy." he finished, pulling away from Jon and rubbing at his face, trying to rid himself of the evidence of his moment of weakness. "Sorry." he apologized in a breathy laugh that sounded hollow.

"Nothing to be sorry about." Jon assured without a moment of hesitation. "Well, I am a little sorry that I didn't think to eat last night because I'm starving now. What do you say we go grab a bite to eat?" he suggested, standing up from his seat.

Shawn followed, calming down for the first time, his face relaxing. "Actually, Cory said something about getting some breakfast with his dad, Topanga, and you. If you want to we can call them?" he requested. The teen then started to wipe his face more with his shirt sleeves, attempting to be nonchalant.

"Sounds good." Jon agreed, pretending to have not seen the action. "On our way to the Matthews we can drop off the papers and start getting things sorted out.."

Shawn's movements ceased. He looked up to Jon with wide eyes and a hopeful look, as if he were still surprised by Jon's decision to actually adopt him. "Really?" the boy questioned.

"Really." Jon repeated confidently. "It'll take a few days, but sooner or later, everything will be official. Go get yourself ready while I get everything we'll need together."

"Okay." Shawn agreed in a strange tone. The teen was currently not meeting Jon's gaze once again and was sucking on his bottom lip, in an attempt to hide the grin that was quickly forming on his face. And slowly, Jon could see the exuberant, fun-loving fifteen year old he knew and loved returning. Jon knew that he still had a long way to go before any real healing and trust could again be established, but it was a start. And a damned good one if you asked Jon.

"I'll be right back!" the teen announced as he hurriedly ran from the room after grabbing the wireless phone.

As the teen ran off, Jon couldn't help but mimic the happy look as well, looking forward to this morning's long-awaited breakfast and the many more that would now be shared with someone he cared greatly for. Someone who was now family.


	4. Chapter 4

When Alan had arrived back home with Cory, Topanga, and a strangely-happy Eric in tow, Amy and Morgan were in the kitchen to welcome them back, along with the scent of a recently cooked breakfast.

"Good morning." Amy greeted, a hint of nervousness seeping through her cherry tone as she moved from the sink to the back door. "How'd everything go?"

"Great!" Eric chimed before either of the other Matthews boys or Topanga could respond.

"Feeny said I did a great job tutoring." Eric reported.

"Really?" Amy asked in genuine surprise.

"Yeah, well the kid I tutored only got a C on the big test, but look at this!" the high school senior commanded as he quickly unzipped his backpack and held out a paper.

Amy, beyond curious, took the paper from her eldest son and examined it. Her eyes quickly widened. "You got an A on your final?" she gasped.

"That's right!" Eric exclaimed. "Apparently, looking at the material before the exam and trying to teach it to someone else is actually a pretty great way to prepare for one. Or something..." he trailed off, unsure of what exactly the Feeny-Lesson-of-the-Week was this time.

"You were played by Feeny." Morgan stated with a hint of mock-disgust as she discretely took a sip of her orange juice.

"I wasn't ' _played by Feeny_ ', Weasel." Eric mimicked as he walked over to his younger sister and messed up the young girl's bed-head even further, much to her annoyance.

With a fond shake of her head, Amy turned away from her oldest and her youngest and turned to face the remaining of her family. She walked up closer to her husband and in a low voice - though not due to secrecy but nervousness over the answer - she asked "How did everything go?"

Alan gave a weary sigh, looking visibly tense. Before he could answer his wife's question, Cory gave a huff, walked over to the kitchen table and pulled out a chair and sat down, so that he was now sitting directly in front of the kitchen phone. Topanga, instead of being exasperated over Cory's melodramatic attitude, simply walked over to the kitchen table and took a seat in one of the chairs as well. She chose to take an actual seat at the table, but she was still within reach of Cory and the phone.

At her confused look, Alan gestured with a jerk of his head to the back door, beckoning his wife to follow him outside. As the two closed the door behind them leaving the occupied children to their own devices, the husband and wife duo were not surprised to find George Feeny attending to his garden.

"Good morning, Amy. Alan." he greeted, with a pull of a weed.

"Hi, George." Alan returned for both he and his wife.

"Thank you for helping Eric with his final. We really appreciate all you do for the kids." Amy thanked with sincerity.

"Of course." George sniffed, as if he were trying to act modest.

Amy, quiet nervous as to continue her conversation with Alan, instead commented, "The garden is coming in lovely this year. I'm amazed that you find the time to take care of it." she smiled while letting out a small huff at her own gardening incompetence.

"Oh, there's not much to it. Most species can do quiet well on their own without outside help." George answered, placing his hands in his suit jacket pockets and observing the flowers below. "Yes, some can even thrive, but they can not go forever without interaction of an outside force. With a little sun, water, and a safe place to stay, they can grow to their greatest potential."

Amy and Alan shared a knowing glance before facing the school teacher once more. "You're not talking about flowers anymore now, are you, George?" Alan asked with a bit of a sarcastic undertone.

"No, I'm not." the older man simply answered bluntly. "Eric informed me that the trouble involving Mr. Hunter late last night continued on into this morning."

"Yeah." Alan confirmed, trying to appear calm but his tenseness betrayed him. "Cory and Topanga went after Chet after Shawn got caught. They saw him skip town, a woman in tow."

Amy placed a comforting hand on her husband's shoulder as he seethed and George garnered his own look of shock and anger. "A woman?"

"Cory's not sure if it was Verna or not." Amy continued, repeating what her husband told her late last night when he returned to bed. "He's only seen the woman so few times…"

"I see…" George hummed, squinting intently at something that only he appeared able to see; a thought, perhaps. "And what does Jonathan know of this?"

"Everything." Alan answered. "I went over there with Cory this morning. I told Jonathan and Cory went to tell Shawn but it turns out Topanga beat him to it."

"Smart girl." George commented, as if to himself, knowing how harshly Cory took to sharing difficult subjects with his friends. "How did Shawn take all of this?" he inquired.

"From what Cory says, pretty well. He was understandably upset, but Cory thinks Shawn's had his suspicions about Chet for a while now." Alan shared a look with his wife. "I think we all have." Amy gave a solemn nod.

Suddenly, the phone from in the kitchen rang, interrupting the shared silence between the adults.

"I got it!" Cory called from inside the kitchen, abruptly standing up and grabbing the phone from the receiver, almost trampling his girlfriend in the process. "Hello? Shawn?" at this, the ears of Topanga and Eric perked up a bit while Morgan seemed confused as to what the big deal was.

"Is it Shawn?" Topanga inquired in a hushed tone.

Cory gave a jerky nod but didn't say anything, appearing to be listening intently to the person on the other end of the phone. "Uh-huh." Cory spoke up, as if he were answering both Topanga and Shawn at the same time. "Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah, yeah I know. No, no it's okay."

"Oh, c'mon!" Eric whined from his seat at the other end of the table. "Normally they speak to each other in paragraphs but now when we all wanna know what's going on…" he trailed off purposefully.

Cory shot him a dirty look but didn't leave the room, seeing as this wasn't the cordless phone. Topanga would normally agree with Cory about respecting others' privacy but she couldn't deny that she herself was very curious to hear whatever news Shawn had to share.

"No, no. Yeah, I get it. No, man. I do. It's fine." Cory continued, sounding as if he were being reassuring. "Wait. What?" he said, again gaining the attention of the other occupants of the room due to his genuinely surprised tone. "He did? Really? H-How do you feel about that?" he added, seeming to have chosen his words very carefully.

The nervous look that Cory had worn throughout the conversion suddenly morphed into a huge grin. "That's great, Shawn!"

Eric turned to Topanga. "So _good_ news then?" he pondered in a quiet tone. Topanga replied non-verbally with a raise of her eyebrows and shrug of her shoulders, agreeing to the notion yet just as unsure. By all outward appearances, it would seem that Cory was receiving good news, but what good that could've arose from such a situation escaped the other teens.

Cory listened to the muffled noise on the other end of the line, nodding his head and making soft hums of approval or interest at whatever Shawn was saying. Cory finally casted a glance over to Eric and Topanga who were suspiciously frozen in place once his eyes landed on them. Cory evidently caught them in the process of having a sneaky conversation, as Topanga had thrown the hair on one side of her head over her shoulder so her ear was free to listen to whatever statement that Eric's open mouth was in the middle of making.

Ignoring their deer-in-the-headlights expressions, Cory asked instead; "Hey, whaddya say about inviting a few more to this brunch outing? It's a cause to celebrate." Cory listened once more and his grin then became huge. "Awesome!" he looked to Topanga and Eric once more, then turned his body away and spoke in a hushed tone. Topanga and Eric had to scoot a bit closer and strain their ears to hear. "Want me to tell everyone for you? I know you don't like making a big deal about things like this...Okay. Yeah, yeah. No problem, buddy."

Cory seemed to be done on the phone and went to hang it up before pausing and bringing the device back to his ear. "Shawn?" he paused once more for a response on the other end of the line, making sure his friend didn't hang up yet. "I'm happy for you." he smiled into the phone.

Topanga and Eric shared another look. Though their amount of worry was low, their curiosity-levels were at an all time high. With a final goodbye, Cory hung up the phone only to be met with the demanding looks of his girlfriend and brother.

" _Well?_ " Eric asked brusquely. "What's going on?"

"You'll see. Just tell mom and dad that we're _all_ going out to eat together." Cory looked to the backyard a gave a surprised look that meant he wasn't really surprised at all. "Invite Feeny too." he ordered, with a jerk of his head to the man in the backyard currently speaking with his parents.

Eric gave a scowl at being told what to do but did it nevertheless, rising from his seat and heading to the back door. "We better be going somewhere with pancakes." he insisted. "24/7." he added, as an afterthought before heading into the backyard.

"But I _just had_ pancakes..." Morgan moaned as she dropped out of her seat and followed her older brother out the door.

"Sorry we all can't have iyour/i problems, Weasel." Eric drawled as the two finally left the room.

Cory turned away from his siblings to see Topanga giving him her widest doe-eyes and an alluring smile. The teen boy frowned. "I'm not telling you what it is."

Topanga's smile dropped into a glower and Cory gave a good-natured laugh at the quick change. The blonde walked over to her boyfriend and wrapped her arms around his neck in an embrace, not able to stave off the smile that wormed it's way onto her lips from Cory's contagious good attitude.

"I take it all went well?" she finally settled for asking. If her boyfriend wanted to be aloof, then fine.

"Oh, I don't know." Cory said, diverting his eyes but returning the embrace.

Topanga raised her eyebrow. "Good news?" she tried again, her tone holding a bit of force.

Cory shook his head in fond exasperation. "The best." he finally revealed.

The teenage girl smiled. "Good." she stated. She may not have all the answers, but they'd be revealed to her soon. Besides, if Cory was happy, it meant Shawn was happy. Or at least on his way to be. Afterall, Cory could never smile as easily as the way he was now if his friends weren't happy.

Especially his Shawn.

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 **Thank you for reading. Reviews are deeply appreciated!**


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